State Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron won his party’s nomination to become Rutherford County mayor Tuesday in a three-candidate race. There’s no Democrat the ballot for the general election, virtually assuring he will succeed current mayor Ernest Burgess, who is running to succeed Ketron in the Senate.

“What a great feeling,” Ketron told an applauding crowd of supporters gathered in a reception room at the Vintage at The Avenue apartments. “Thank you, citizens of Rutherford County.”

Ketron finished with 6,885 votes to beat out runner-up Randy Allen, who had 4,655, and Tina Jones, who garnered 3,279.

Ketron, who ran unsuccessfully for county mayor three times in the 1990s, will face independent Heather Ann Brown in the Aug. 2 general election.

“This has been a long journey for me,” Ketron said. “Back in the 1990s when I ran for this position, the citizens of Rutherford County didn’t think I was ready.”

Ketron said since then he’s gained institutional knowledge and many contacts while serving for 16 years in the Tennessee Senate as a Republican from Murfreesboro.

…Ketron told his supporters he decided to run for mayor after successful stem cell treatment for cancer.

“I stared death in the face,” Ketron said. “The good Lord sent me to serve in this position. This is what I want to do.”

The senator acknowledged how the campaign became negative.

“Sometimes it gets nasty in politics,” Ketron said. “You have to have a thick skin to do that.”

… The mayor at this time earns an annual salary of $140,103 to oversee several departments, preside over County Commission meetings and provide the commissioners with tax and spending recommendations for government services.